The relative dentin abrasivity-profilometry equivalent values were compared using non-contact profilometry with three subtypes of regular toothpaste and two subtypes of whitening toothpaste ...containing sodium bicarbonate and 35% hydrogen peroxide. Bovine dentin specimens were assigned to six groups: regular toothpaste (R): R1 (BAMBOO SALT GUM OINTMENT); R2 (MEDIAN TARTAR ORIGINAL); R3 (PERIOE Alpha), Reference slurry: RS (calcium pyrophosphate), whitening toothpaste (W): W1 (NET. WT); W2 (Vussen 28 WHITENING). Relative dentin abrasion–profilometry equivalent (RDA-PE) was determined by brushing 10,000 times (n=8). The pH of the toothpaste was measured (n=5) and the abrasive constituents of the toothpaste was analyzed by FE-SEM and EDS. The RDA-PE values ranged from 26 to 166, and the pH level ranges were 4.928–9.153. The RDA-PE value of the whitening toothpaste containing hydrogen peroxide was not high compared with that of the regular toothpaste. The RDA-PE values of whitening toothpaste could vary depending on the mechanism and ingredients of the whitening agents.
Purpose The purposes of this study were to evaluate regeneration of the articular cartilage after medial opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy for knees with medial-compartment osteoarthritis and to ...assess the clinical outcome and cartilage regeneration according to the postoperative limb alignment at 2 years postoperatively. Methods The study involved 159 knees in 159 patients. For evaluation of cartilage degeneration, the International Cartilage Repair Society grading system was used for arthroscopic grading on initial arthroscopy during high tibial osteotomy. The patients underwent a second-look arthroscopic evaluation of the articular cartilage at the time of removal of the plate, an average of 2 years after the initial osteotomy. For evaluation of cartilage regeneration, the articular cartilage was classified into 2 stages as no regenerative change (grade 1) or white scattering with fibrocartilage, partial coverage with fibrocartilage, or even coverage with fibrocartilage (grade 2) on second-look arthroscopy. Maturation of the cartilage regeneration was defined as even coverage with fibrocartilage. “Immaturation” of the cartilage regeneration was defined as white scattering with fibrocartilage or partial coverage with fibrocartilage. Clinical evaluations were performed by use of Knee Society scores preoperatively and at 2 years postoperatively. We divided the knees into 3 groups according to the postoperative limb alignment. Group A comprised knees with a mechanical tibiofemoral angle of 0° or less. Group B comprised knees with a mechanical tibiofemoral angle greater than 0° and less than 6°. Group C comprised knees with a mechanical tibiofemoral angle of 6° or greater. Results Grade 2 regeneration was achieved in the medial femoral condyle articular cartilage in 92% of knees and in the medial tibial plateau articular cartilage in 69% of knees. Maturation of the cartilage regeneration was found in the medial femoral condyle articular cartilage in 4% of knees and in the medial tibial plateau articular cartilage in 1% of knees. At follow-up, no significant differences were seen between clinical outcomes and initial cartilage degeneration ( P = .338) or cartilage regeneration ( P = .699). Regeneration of the medial femoral condyle articular cartilage was found in 75% of group A knees, 95% of group B knees, and 92% of group C knees. Significant differences were seen between cartilage regeneration and clinical outcomes ( P = .001), as well as postoperative limb alignment ( P = .018). Clinical and regeneration results were better in group B than in groups A and C. Conclusions The degenerated cartilage of the medial femoral condyle and medial tibial plateau could be partially or entirely covered by newly regenerated cartilage at 2 years after adequate correction of varus deformity by medial opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy without cartilage regeneration strategies. Level of Evidence Level IV, therapeutic case series.
The microbial leakage at the implant–abutment interface (IAI) is one cause of peri-implant infection that puts long-term implant stability at risk. The present study compared two types of Morse taper ...implants in terms of sealing performance at the implanthealing abutment interface. Three implant systems, one of which exhibited a partial face-contact design (TSO) and the other two a line-contact design (TSM and BLT), were analyzed in vitro using two quantitative implant leakage measuring techniques: air-injection pressure measurement test and microbial examination. An in-house-developed device was used to determine implant leakage by recording the initial drop in pressure while injecting air through the implant. The microbial examination measured the absorbances of culture mediums in which the inoculated implants were contained. Significant difference was found between the partial face- and line-contact groups (p<0.001). Both tests revealed that partial face-contact implants are more prone to leakage than line-contact implants.
Abstract
Background
Hydrogen peroxide (HP) and citric acid (CA), key contributors to toothpaste acidity, can lead to dental loss. This study aimed to compare the amount of abrasion or loss of dentin ...based on pH, buffering, and concentration of HP and CA in commercial and experimental toothpastes after toothbrushing or immersion.
Methods
Bovine dentin specimens were randomly assigned to nine solutions. The prepared solutions included two commercial toothpastes (whitening toothpaste WT with HP and CA; conventional toothpaste CT without HP and CA), reference slurry (RS), two CA solutions (1.92%, CAS1; 0.001%, CAS2), basic solution (7.16% sodium phosphate dibasic SPDS), CA phosphate buffer solution (3.58% SPDS and 0.96% CA CAPB), HP solution (4%, HPS), and distilled water (DW). Dentin specimens were performed in two treatments: one with only abrasion (10,000 brushings) and one with only immersion (1 h). After treatments, the amount of dentin loss and surface images were measured and observed using noncontact profilometry. Data were analyzed using an one-way analysis of variance and the Tukey test as a post hoc analysis (
p
< 0.05).
Results
WT with pH 5.0 had lower dentin abrasion than CT and RS after brushing but had higher dentin loss than both after immersion. The dentin surfaces of CAS1, CAPB, and WT were damaged after immersion, whereas HPS, CAS2, CT, SPDS, RS, and DW remained intact after soaking. CAS2 and HPS, which had a pH of 5.0 like WT, did not significantly differ from those of DW after brushing.
Conclusions
WT containing HP and CA did not cause significant dentin abrasion but may cause additional dentin loss even without brushing. After brushing or immersion, the CA concentration may affect the dentin surface more than the HP concentration included in WT. The amount of abrasion or loss of dentin after brushing or soaking can vary based on the composition, concentration, and buffer in the solution, even if the pH of the solution is similar to pH 5.0.
Obesity increases the risks of diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases, ultimately contributing to mortality. Korean Society for the Study of Obesity (KSSO) was established to improve the ...management of obesity through research and education; to that end, the Committee of Clinical Practice Guidelines of KSSO reviews systemic evidence using expert panels to develop clinical guidelines. The clinical practice guidelines for obesity were revised in 2018 using National Health Insurance Service Health checkup data from 2006 to 2015. Following these guidelines, we added a category, class III obesity, which includes individuals with body mass index (BMI) ≥35 kg/m
. Agreeing with the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders, Asian Pacific Chapter consensus, we determined that bariatric surgery is indicated for Korean patients with BMI ≥35 kg/m
and for Korean patients with BMI ≥30 kg/m
who have comorbidities. The new guidelines focus on guiding clinicians and patients to manage obesity more effectively. Our recommendations and treatment algorithms can serve as a guide for the evaluation, prevention, and management of overweight and obesity.
Recent advances have been made in the understanding of pharmacological and dietary agents that contribute to browning of white adipose tissue in order to combat obesity by promoting energy ...expenditure. Here, we show that curcumin induces browning of 3T3-L1 and primary white adipocytes via enhanced expression of brown fat-specific genes. Curcumin-induced browning in white adipocytes was investigated by determining expression levels of brown adipocyte-specific genes/proteins by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, immunoblot analysis and immunocytochemical staining. Curcumin increased mitochondrial biogenesis, as evidenced by transmission electronic microscopic detection and enhanced expression of proteins involved in fat oxidation. Cucurmin also increased protein levels of hormone-sensitive lipase and p-acyl-CoA carboxylase, suggesting its possible role in augmentation of lipolysis and suppression of lipogenesis. Increased expression of UCP1 and other brown adipocyte-specific markers was possibly mediated by curcumin-induced activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) based on the fact that inhibition of AMPK by dorsomorphin abolished expression of PRDM16, UCP1 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1-alpha while the activator 5-Aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide elevated expression of these brown marker proteins. Our findings suggest that curcumin plays a dual modulatory role in inhibition of adipogenesis as well as induction of the brown fat-like phenotype and thus may have potential therapeutic implications for treatment of obesity.
It is expected that artificial intelligence (AI) will be used extensively in the medical field in the future.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the awareness of AI among Korean doctors and ...to assess physicians' attitudes toward the medical application of AI.
We conducted an online survey composed of 11 closed-ended questions using Google Forms. The survey consisted of questions regarding the recognition of and attitudes toward AI, the development direction of AI in medicine, and the possible risks of using AI in the medical field.
A total of 669 participants completed the survey. Only 40 (5.9%) answered that they had good familiarity with AI. However, most participants considered AI useful in the medical field (558/669, 83.4% agreement). The advantage of using AI was seen as the ability to analyze vast amounts of high-quality, clinically relevant data in real time. Respondents agreed that the area of medicine in which AI would be most useful is disease diagnosis (558/669, 83.4% agreement). One possible problem cited by the participants was that AI would not be able to assist in unexpected situations owing to inadequate information (196/669, 29.3%). Less than half of the participants(294/669, 43.9%) agreed that AI is diagnostically superior to human doctors. Only 237 (35.4%) answered that they agreed that AI could replace them in their jobs.
This study suggests that Korean doctors and medical students have favorable attitudes toward AI in the medical field. The majority of physicians surveyed believed that AI will not replace their roles in the future.
Multispectral satellite imaging sensors acquire various spectral band images and have a unique spectroscopic property in each band. Unfortunately, image artifacts from imaging sensor noise often ...affect the quality of scenes and have a negative impact on applications for satellite imagery. Recently, deep learning approaches have been extensively explored to remove noise in satellite imagery. Most deep learning denoising methods, however, follow a supervised learning scheme, which requires matched noisy image and clean image pairs that are difficult to collect in real situations. In this article, we propose a novel unsupervised multispectral denoising method for satellite imagery using a wavelet directional cycle-consistent adversarial network (WavCycleGAN). The proposed method is based on an unsupervised learning scheme using adversarial loss and cycle-consistency loss to overcome the lack of paired data. Moreover, in contrast to the standard image-domain cycleGAN, we introduce a wavelet directional learning scheme for effective denoising without sacrificing high-frequency components such as edges and detailed information. Experimental results for the removal of vertical stripes and wave noise in satellite imaging sensors demonstrate that the proposed method effectively removes noise and preserves important high-frequency features of satellite images.
In remote sensing environments, image compression is essential to efficiently transmit and store high-resolution images due to the limited bandwidth and storage capacity. However, compression often ...leads to image quality degradation, requiring compression artifact removal technology in the postprocessing stage. Although deep neural networks have shown remarkable performance in image restoration, most existing methods have not adequately considered the compression conditions specific to remote sensing environments and have been evaluated primarily on synthetic datasets. To solve these issues, we propose a multidomain adaptive spatial–spectral variable compression artifact removal network (MASCAR) that effectively restores the earth surface details of compressed images in remote sensing environments. We introduce a multidomain local-patch collaborative learning strategy that extracts diverse features by decomposing the input local patch into different domains. In addition, we propose a detail focusing approach to direct the network’s focus toward fine-texture detail restoration and ensure stable training of remote sensing images with significant deviations in pixel distribution of local patches. Furthermore, a detail enhancement approach is presented to enhance the details of the restored images. Moreover, we propose an incorporated compressed image quality adaptation mechanism to respond flexibly to unknown compression ratios in remote sensing environments. The performance of MASCAR applied with the proposed method is evaluated on synthetic and real-world remote sensing datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has better quantitative performance and visual quality than existing methods.
The effect of light-to-moderate alcohol consumption on cancer risk remains controversial. We examined the association between low-level alcohol consumption and cancer mortality. A cohort study ...included 331,984 Korean adults free of cancer at baseline who underwent a comprehensive health checkup examination. Participants were categorized into never drinkers, former drinkers, and current drinkers who were further divided into light, moderate, heavy, and very heavy drinkers. Vital status and cancer-related deaths were ascertained through links to national death records. During 1,633,906 person-years of follow-up (median 5.3 years interquartile range 3.8-6.2), 374 cancer-related deaths were identified (cancer-cause mortality rate of 23 per 10
person-years). When former and never drinkers were classified as non-drinkers, the light drinkers had a lowest risk of cancer mortality compared with non-drinkers and other current drinkers (J-shaped); however, with consideration of lifetime abstinence history, current drinking was positively associated with cancer mortality in a dose-dependent manner. When changes in alcohol drinking status and confounders during follow-up were updated as time-varying covariates and never drinkers were used as the reference, the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals, CIs) for cancer mortality among current light, moderate, heavy, and very heavy drinkers were 1.58 (1.03-2.43), 2.28 (1.41-3.70), 2.34 (1.42-3.85), and 2.97 (1.80-4.90), respectively, and the highest risk of cancer mortality was observed in former drinkers, who had an HR (95% CI) of 3.86 (2.38-6.28). Alcohol consumption was significantly and positively associated with an increased risk of cancer mortality in a dose-dependent manner, beginning with light drinkers.
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